Method for validating programmed execution sequences or teaching programs for a robot in a working cell, and a robot and/or robot controller for said method

Abstract

The invention describes a robot (5) and/or robot controller (17) and a method for validation of programmed workflow sequences or teaching programs (20) of a robot (5) preferably with a robot controller (17), wherein the robot (5) is preferably mounted on or next to a processing machine, in particular an injection molding machine (4), and serves for the extraction, handling, manipulation or further processing of injection-molded parts (3) which have just been produced. The travel parameters, equipment features and functionalities of the physical robot (5) are stored in a configuration file (27) on the control side. The robot controller (17) creates a virtual robot model (21) from these stored data. For validation of a workflow sequence, the robot controller (17) uses the current teaching program (20) in the robot controller (17) whereby the visualization of the workflow sequence is displayed directly on an output unit of the robot controller (17).

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for validating programmed process sequences or teaching programs of a robot configured with a robot controller, the robot being a physical robot mounted on or next to an injection molding machine and for extraction, handling, manipulation or further processing of injection molded parts that have just been produced, the method comprising:
 storing data comprising process parameters, equipment features, and functionalities of the physical robot on the control side in a configuration file; 
 using the robot controller in creating a virtual robot from the stored data and applying it to a current teaching program in the robot controller to validate a process sequence of the robot controller, with a visualization of the process sequence being displayed directly on an output unit of the robot controller, with the virtual robot of any command line of the teaching program from the physical robot being decoupled and is used for the validation of certain commands and sub-sequences in the teaching program for potential collisions or incorrect behavior; 
 with the virtual robot following the physical robot in a coupled state and with decoupling, this synchronization between the virtual robot and the physical robot is stopped, with the coupled physical robot executing the current program sequence up to a possible collision situation and only then is switching made to the virtual robot with a simulation of dangerous states; and 
 with the virtual robot, after the decoupling at any time coupled with the physical robot, is coupled and reset to an initial state in order to then validate further sub-sequences of the teaching program. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the relevant dimensions of the processing machine and other components, including grippers for manipulating the injection molded parts, conveyor belts, automation systems, mills, protective enclosures, which together with the physical robot form a work cell and are configured to interact with the physical robot, either transmitted or queried digitally to the robot controller or determined with the aid of measuring devices and are included by the robot controller in the validation for the detection of possible collision states. 
 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 programmed or determined areas of movement of the physical robot are represented spatially and in color in the virtual robot in order to make permitted areas of movement and movement recognizable for an operator. 
 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an operator of the virtual robot or the physical robot on the robot controller having an option of manually changing peripheral states, a sequence of movement and influencing functional sequences and thus testing processes. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 processing with the virtual robot the teaching program in accelerated time, that is, in a time lapse. 
 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 operating the virtual robot in a way that all or some of branches a teaching program processing can take are automatically recorded and tested. 
 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the virtual robot is part of a virtual work cell and other devices of the work cell selected from among an injection molding machine, a removal gripper, sprue tongs, a conveyor belt and peripheral and automation components in a context of the virtual robot, any of which are configurable to be taken into account in the validation of the validation of programmed process sequences or teaching programs. 
 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 zooming into the visualization of the work cell, the perspective being freely selectable and being able to be changed at any time. 
 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the configuration file and the teaching program is configured to be transferred to an external computer and thus an offline check of the process sequence is possible. 
 
     
     
       10. A robot and/or robot controller for validating programmed process sequences or teaching programs of a robot, the robot being mounted on or next to an injection molding machine and for extraction, handling, manipulation or further processing of injection molded parts that have just been produced, travel parameters, equipment features and functionalities of a physical robot are stored in a configuration file, the robot controller for creating a virtual robot from the configuration file and for validating a sequence for a current teaching program in the robot controller, wherein the visualization of the sequence can be displayed directly on the robot controller, the virtual robot after decoupling and validation of certain commands and the rapid sequences in the teaching program can be coupled to the physical robot at any time and can be reset to an initial state in order to then validate further partial sequences of the teaching program in the coupled or decoupled state. 
     
     
       11. The robot and/or robot controller according to  claim 10 , wherein:
 the robot and/or the robot controller is configured to carry out a method for validating programmed process sequences of teaching programs of the robot configured with the robot controller, the robot being the physical robot mounted on or next to the injection molding machine and for removal, handling, manipulation or further processing of injection molded parts that have just been produced, the method comprising: 
 storing data comprising process parameters, equipment features, and functionalities of the physical robot on the control side in the configuration file; 
 using the robot controller in creating the virtual robot from the stored data and applying it to the current teaching program in the robot controller to validate a process sequence of the robot controller, with a visualization of the process sequence being displayed directly on an output unit of the robot controller, with the virtual robot of any command line of the teaching program from the physical robot being decoupled and is used for the validation of certain commands and sub-sequences in the teaching program for potential collisions or incorrect behavior; 
 with the virtual robot following the physical robot in a coupled state and with decoupling, this synchronization between the virtual robot and the physical robot is stopped, with the coupled physical robot executing the current program sequence up to a possible collision situation and only then is switching made to the virtual robot with the simulation of dangerous states; and 
 with the virtual robot after the decoupling at any time coupled with the physical robot is coupling and resetting to an initial state in order to then validate further sub-sequences of the teaching program.